Saturday, 28 May 2016

A
review of The Encyclopedia of the Gothic
(2016), edited by William Hughes, David Punter and Andrew Smith. Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN: 978-1-119-06460-2. (880 pages).

The general editors (William Hughes, David Punter and Andrew Smith) begin
their Introduction to The Encyclopedia of
the Gothic by employing the now well-known story of the Chinese encyclopedia,
popularized by Jorge Luis Borges and by Michel Foucault in The Order of Things (1970). Although they choose to employ the
definite article in their chosen title, their enlightened emphasis on ‘provisionality’
hints at the struggle with the ‘epistemologically firm structure of an encyclopedia’
(p. xxxiv). Indeed, the evidence of diversity and the proliferation of resources [FN1]
on gothic appears to challenge the possibility of constructing an encyclopedia
in fixed media. Fortunately, the online version will provide an opportunity to
interact with the suggestions of readers in order to cope with ‘an ever
evolving genre’ (p. xxxviii). Nonetheless, the print version marks an excellent
opportunity to take stock of the current state of play in gothic studies and to
critically survey this gargantuan domain of academic research.

In one sense, it might be proposed that academic canonicity originates
in the authority and the legitimacy of scholars recruited to the project. In addition
to the esteemed general editors the reviewer counted some 40 professors amongst
the 131 contributors writing on 244 topics. It is also reassuring for the
health of the subject that many early career scholars have joined forces with
the influential writers who have been transforming the theoretical directions
of Gothic studies since the 1980s.

In short, it’s a highly impressive and monumental effort of collaborative
scholarship. I do not envy the task of the editors who must bear the burden of
their judiciousness: what to include, what to exclude. Digging deeper reveals
that there are underlying narratives and a sense of shared assumptions about
the Gothic project and approaches to reflecting on the diverse phenomena conceptually
and theoretically. Given that the gothic
genre is not confined to a canon of literary texts the critical project is all
the more arduous and the monster of possibility spreads out in all directions.
Gothic has become a global project, national and transnational in its
replication and migration. As if nodding to the academic industry that has
fuelled the dissemination of gothic the editors kindly offer an entry at the
centre of their encyclopedia around which all other entries circulate: the
International Gothic Association (IGA), whose inaugural conference was held at
the University of East Anglia in 1991. Incidentally, two of the general
editors, Andrew Smith and William Hughes, are co-presidents of the International
Gothic Association, and the latteris
also the founding editor of Gothic Studies, the refereed journal of the
International Gothic Association.

It is rather impertinent to question whether a book of this kind is really
needed when so much is already available elsewhere, and more material than ever
is available on open access. Indeed, the IGA website (www.iga.stir.ac.uk) is a useful place to
start. Google Scholar throws up 442,000 references to ‘gothic’ so it’s undoubtedly
very helpful to have some guidance to refine the search terms. Certainly this
volume compares well with a range of other histories, guides, and companions
that have been designed to cater for the undergraduate market. It’s obviously
also a safe place to start for students who want to research a specific topic,
or to improve their awareness of key themes, concepts, and theoretical
approaches. The editors have managed to meet the need for accessibility without
falling into the trap of a gross over-simplification of complex ideas. Entries
range in length from a thousand words, up to five thousand for ‘period’
surveys. The general policy of the editors has been to offer a survey of the
gothic field that covers ‘periods, places, people and media.’ (p. xxxvii) Short
bibliographies accompany each entry, together with cross-references. A
well-constructed traditional index also helped this reviewer to track down more
minor topics that I had deemed to have been missed out.

Comparison with the much demonised Wikipedia reveals the value of having
an erudite collection of short articles that serve as a trusted introduction to
key topics in the field of Gothic studies. In terms of geography there are well-informed entries on the regional, national, or wider traditions: African
American Gothic (Carol Margaret Davison), American Gothic (Charles L. Crow),
Anglo-Caribbean Gothic (Carol Margaret Davison), Asian Gothic (Katarzyna
Ancuta), Australian Gothic (Ken Gelder), Canadian Gothic (Faye Hammill), Dutch
Gothic (Agnes Andeweg), European Gothic (Francesca Billiani), French Gothic
(Terry Hale), Japanese Gothic (Katarzyna Ancuta), Jewish Gothic (Ruth Gilbert),
New England Gothic (Faye Ringel), New Zealand Gothic (Timothy Jones), Russian
Gothic (Neil Cornwell), Scandinavian Gothic (Yvonne Leffler), Scottish Gothic (Carol
Margaret Davison), Southern [US] Gothic (Meredith Miller), and Welsh Gothic
(Jane Aaron); but curiously British Gothic and English Gothic are
omitted as self-standing entries. One assumes that these categories were
sufficiently represented elsewhere, like a background noise that is unnoticed,
or a torture to which we have so long submitted that we no longer feel the pain
of its presence. (I note that Wikipedia has an entries on ‘Tasmanian Gothic’
and ‘Southern Ontario Gothic’; whereas the Encyclopedia offers ‘Fin-de-
siècle Gothic’ (Emily Alder) Wikipedia supplements with an entry on ‘Mal du siècle’.)

The notion of transnationalism and the migration of Gothic tropes and
narratives is evidently becoming more urgent as a focus for international
scholarship and collaboration. In this regard David Punter’s entry on ‘Theory’
notes: ‘it involves the constant contact, now prevalent more than ever before
because of the globalized spread of cultural interchange, between Western
textualities and “indigeneous” folktales and related material.’ (692)
Undoubtedly the traffic is multi-dimensional and therefore the encyclopedic
projects of a Western intelligentsia and the habits of cultural consumers need
to be constantly alerted to the notion of the key role of ‘provisionality’ and ‘interaction’
previously noted.

Psychoanalytic and other theoretical approaches to Gothic are well
served in this volume, perhaps revealing the interest of the general editors
and the academic readership that the book targets. Taking a lead from Dale
Townshend’s The orders of Gothic: Foucault, Lacan and the subject of Gothic
writing, 1764-1806 (2007) David Punter’s entry on ‘Theory’ notes that theory
‘does not have to bifurcate into, on the one hand, purely historical study and,
on the other, an attempt to demonstrate “universal” aspects.’ (692)

Curiously, the entry on Future Gothic (Nema Montezero) appears without any
References or Further Reading. Is that the Shape of Things to Come? Media
topics are represented by entries on popular TV, Film (Stephen Carver), Games
(Tanya Krzywinska); Radio (Richard J. Hand),
and many more. The longest entries (up to five thousand words) in The Encyclopedia of the Gothic tend to
be devoted to the surveys of periods and movements. These entries provide a
convenient route for students who are embarking on the study of the gothic for
the first time and who need a judicious summary rather than an awesome
monograph. Given the high cost of downloading academic articles, it is evident
that a modest investment in a resource such as The Encyclopedia of the Gothic clearly represents excellent value
for undergraduates, independent scholars and general readers. The theoretical
approaches will also prove an essential resource for those seeking to engage
with current academic research on the gothic.

Ian McCormick, M.A.(St Andrews), PhD
(Leeds).

FN1: 'Nobody ever complains of having too little to read, as Richard Fisher, the managing director of Cambridge University Press’s academic division, has put it at many conferences.' See Martin Paul Eve, Open Access and the Humanities: Contexts, Controversies and the Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.